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The rear bumper on my car was poorly painted a few years back and I've been dealing with peeling and cracking in the paint. I recently picked up a color matched E55 rear bumper that I'd like to use since it's in excellent condition and I'm upgrading to the AMG exhaust anyways. My question is regarding the parking sensors, I know the connectors are different so I can't use the E55 sensors that are currently installed in the bumper, but will the brackets fit the later sensors? I've read a few threads saying that the brackets on the front bumper need to be modified/replaced but haven't seen much regarding the rear.
I have two E55 center molding strips with brackets and sensors, and the sensors/brackets on my car are in good shape. Will the brackets just transfer over? At least on the two E55 trim pieces I have the brackets are just clipped in.
I got ahold of a trashed impact strip to test fit the newer sensors, they're significantly smaller than the older ones so they won't fit the brackets at all. The "eye" that protrudes through the bumper is exactly the same size, though, so the holes don't need to be modified. Cutting a small notch in the plastic cup on the back of the impact strip that held the bracket for the old sensor allows the new sensor to fit flush with the finished exterior surface.
There's obviously no longer any mechanical means of holding the sensor to the impact strip. I got it to hold securely by wrapping the whole thing with Scotch 130C rubber tape. It fuses to itself, so there's no adhesive to fail and once stuck the only way to remove it is to cut it off. I'm also thinking of using a small amount of plastic repair adhesive to hold the sensor in place, but not so much that the sensor can't be removed if it fails. I'm trying to avoid using a whole bunch of epoxy and not being able to replace a sensor if one goes bad.
Mercedes SLR McLaren 722 S Is Extremely Rare Example Modified by McLaren
Slideshow: A one-of-one U.S.-spec Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster became even rarer after a factory-backed transformation at McLaren's headquarters.
